Welcome to another Paper Trail Blog Hop and this month the focus is on the Jubilee papers.

If you have come from Connie’s blog,  you are in the right place and if you have just popped in to visit then feel free to have a good browse.  The blog hop is circular so once you have visited everyone you will end up where you have started.

I have found this paper range very challenging because it really encapsulates America to me and not so much New Zealand.  The papers are beautiful and as usual with Close to My Heart papers there is a wide range of colours and patterns for all occasions. For this layout I have picked out the beautiful green toned papers as these colours and patterns did remind me a little of New Zealand and the photos I have chosen went well with the blues and reds of the cardstock.

For this layout I have used the Bottom Border – Triple Combination from the Reflections Scrapbooking Programme book.  I love this pattern and use it a lot as it is great for both landscape and portrait photos which I have shown here.  One side is completed with using landscape photos and the other side with portrait photos and I have used different elements for the triple combination.

I have used my Artbooking Cricut cartridges to cut out the photo frames from Indian Corn Blue for the photos.  This was quite important as both the photos and the background paper are really busy and I needed a solid colour to make the photos stand out more.  This cartridge is great and easy to use and I don’t know what I would do without it now.  I adhered the frames to the photos and then onto the background paper.  I also placed some blue patterned papers to cover the bottom of the portrait photos and also tie in with the patterned paper on the other side.

I have used a combination of zip strips and patterned paper to edge the panels of Cranberry cardstock.  These have been distressed with Cashmere ink and then placed on the background paper.

I have discovered dimensional elements and how they can add something a little extra to my work.  You can stamp them, distress them, paint them, cover them with paper and much more.  Here I have used the dimensional elements that match with the Artbooking cartridge set and stamped them using both Cranberry and Indian Corn Blue inks.  The arrows have been finished off using blue epoxy bubbles.  The rosette dimensional element has been stamped using the stamp set from the Artiste Cricut cartridge bundle using Outdoor Denim ink.

To add some interest to the page I have embossed some Indian Corn Blue cardstock with the Quatrafoil embossing folder and distressed it with Cashmere ink.  I then cut the pinwheels out of the Artiste Cricut cartridge and stamped them with Cranberry and Indian Corn Blue inks and then topped it off with a blue epoxy bubble.

This page features my son doing demonstration of Taiha – this is a wooden spear type weapon that Maori men train very hard to use in warfare.  A Maori Kaumatua (respected elder) came to the school and taught the children how to wield this weapon.  The children also had moko printed on their faces to make them look more fierce.  The sentiment ‘Sweet As’ has come from the New Zealand Greetings stamp set and is a very popular one in New Zealand.  Also to keep with the theme of New Zealand I have added a stamped kiwi and some leaves that have been stamped using Topiary ink and fussy cut out and then distressed with Cashmere ink and then placed on the page.

This other page features my son dancing around the maypole.  They were having a cultural day and doing different dances and traditions from different cultures.  I have used the Pinwheel SOTM from last year to keep with the motif of movement and stamped with both Cranberry and Indian Corn Blue which incidentally picked up the colours of the clothes the children are wearing.  The pinwheels have been adhered to Indian Corn Blue cardstock that has been embossed using the Quatrefoil embossing folder and distressed with Cashmere ink.

I have cut the journalling tag out of Colonial White cardstock using the Artbooking Cricut cartridge and stamped with the coordinating stamp set in Cocoa.  I then distressed with Cashmere ink and completed the journalling.   I love this little tag as the ruled lines make it so easy to write the journalling neatly.

To complete the layout I have stamped onto the dimensional elements using the coordinating stamp sets from the Artbooking cartridge and distressed them with Cashmere ink and placed them on the layout.

Materials used:

Cardstock – Colonial White, Cranberry, Indian Corn Blue, 

Paper pack – Jubilee

Inks – Outdoor Denim, Indian Corn Blue, Cranberry, Cocoa, Cashmere

Stamps – New Zealand Greetings, Pinwheel SOTM (NLA), Artbookimg

Cricut Cartridges – Artbooking, Artiste

Embossing folder – Quatrefoil

Blue and Green Epoxy bubbles

Dimensional Elements

I hope you have enjoyed your visit here and seen how much fun the Jubilee papers are.  Now hop on over to Karen’s blog here to check out her fabulous creations.

Happy Crafting

Patricia